I spent a couple of days in the Cabramurra area last week. The green shoots of grass and ferns have slightly softened the bleak blackened landscape. It is eerily silent most of the time. The most frequently seen birds were Little Ravens,
mostly around the remains of the township, and the occasional Pied Currawong.
However during the beautiful crisp mornings there was the start of the autumn migration. Small flocks of Silvereye, Spotted Pardalote and Striated Pardalote moving in a north-easterly direction, probably only a total of 50 of each over
a 3 hour period. And even a handful of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and a couple of Wattlebirds. It’s hard to imagine where they were coming from given the extent of the devastation to the south-west, and even harder to imagine where they might end up for winter.
In the direction they were heading it would be at least 25km to find an unburnt leaf in the canopy.
Other moments of joy interspersing the silence were hearing a Lyrebird calling, a Flame Robin and a Crescent Honeyeater. It could be a very different autumn migration through Canberra this year.
Nicki Taws
